Remain: A Supernatural Love Story <— WHOA, RIGHT?? The king of twisty horror movies (he’s my absolute favorite – even the movies considered “duds” I’ve found captivating!!) and the king of twisty love stories and what a match-up!!!! I was absolutely delighted and there is nothing I love more than a good ghost love story, because… how can it possibly work, right? GAHHHHH!!!! My heart ached already going into this knowing I was in for something touching and angsty.
And, of course it has a touch of “twist” ’cause it’s a mystery as to how it all went down. So I just had to one-click it for myself AND one for my book-bud (and colleague) Kelly, when it went on sale a couple of months ago. YAY US!! Though I was a bad buddy-reader because I didn’t start with her but she was great about not spoiling anything when we discussed it. LOVE having her with me on this book journey. She can read a book a day, just like us! 😉
So what’s it about?
Our Hero is coming out of a deep depression after losing his beloved sister to cancer. She had “abilities” when it came to spiritual stuff, and on her last days, she gave him some sage advice.
“Did they ever help you decode those little bombshells your sister dropped right before she died?”
Recalling what she’d told me, I shrugged again. “The doctors speculated that Sylvia was experiencing neurological anomalies as her organs were shutting down.”
“But you believed her?” Oscar pressed. I hesitated, choosing my words carefully.
“Sylvia never lied to me, which means she believed everything she told me.
Now, trying to get himself together and get back into his job as an architect, he heads to a small town where his very best friend is having a house built, and he’s the head guy. And while he’s there, he ends up reserving an entire historical house/Airbnb and despite thinking he had the whole place to himself, apparently there’s someone else there.
And while she’s nice enough, and quite easy on the eyes, she keeps popping in and out randomly and everyone insists he’s the only one in the house.
Oh oh… you know how that goes. 😉
I watched as Louise blanched and Reece took a step backward in shock.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Do you know her?”
“What did she look like?” Louise asked.
“Dark hair, beautiful green eyes, medium height, kind of pretty.” As I described her, Reece’s face flashed with anger. He seemed to grow in size, his body practically vibrating.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked, the words coming out in almost a snarl. “Do you think it’s funny?”
I met Reece’s eyes, refusing to back down. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“Wren?” he demanded. “Dark hair with beautiful green eyes? That’s what you said?”
“So?”
“You and I both know that’s not possible.”
“You’re going to have to enlighten me.”
He drew a breath, and I could see in his expression how upset he was. “Wren Tobin,” he finally said, “died almost two years ago.”
Eeeeeeep!!! I was ALL IN!!!!!! How in the heck is THIS going to go down?? Will they fall in love? Is she really dead? Will she be able to have a relationship with him anyway, like Jane in The Black Dagger Brotherhood? Does he have special abilities? Is it a dream? Is it psychosis? IS HE DEAD?? Is it something his sister did?? Allllllll of the questions.
LOL!!!!
But his best friend humors him, and our Hero gets acquainted with her and things… develop (well… at least, with the “daytime her” – let’s not even get started on “creeeeepy nighttime her” 😉 ). But also, other things come to light and now he’s on a mission.
I remembered my last conversation with my sister. “I think Sylvia would want me to. She said she always wanted to help the ones who were in pain but didn’t know how.”
“Which begs the obvious question: How do you help a ghost? What are you supposed to do?”
“I’m hoping Wren can tell me.”
“Which one? The daytime one or the nighttime one?”
“Maybe both,” I said. “I feel like they represent different versions of her.”
And now… I had EVEN MORE QUESTIONS!!!!
And I will stop here. We’re only at 30% of the book so nothing is toooo spoiled – and for me… this would only have made me want to read it more. But, this is where the mystery kicks in and the details start… detailing. And it eventually allllll comes together.
3.75-4 stars <— Of course, due to the storytellers, the writing was great (hence the 4 stars) & I enjoyed it but it kept me reading specifically ’cause I was dying to encounter a major twist and couldn’t wait to see how the could possibly er… “end things”.
I think I was expecting… more. MUCH more (at least by way of twist and turns and shocking revelations or jaw-dropping “I didn’t see that coming” type of things), but nothing really blew my mind. Nothing super-clever that had me clapping with glee, or panicking. It was a pretty easy read overall, and nothing too crazy (at least by way of what I truly enjoy and what I consider unforgettable). *shrug*
So what genre? I’d say mystery thriller. It wasn’t quite a romance, it wasn’t quite a psych-thriller, it certainly wasn’t a horror story (though it did have a few elements of that at times <— LOVED THAT!!!!), but it was definitely a ghostly-romancey-creepy-at-times mystery. It was a mix of all of it. Good, but not unputdownable.
[lasso rel=”remain-a-supernatural-love-story” id=”117886″]
➔➔➔ Looking for more of my must-read recommendations? Browse my 5 star and 4.5 star and 4 star reviews. 😀
➔➔➔ Love this genre? Browse more ghost romance and/or mystery romance features and reviews on my blog. 😀